The release of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Data Privacy Act (DPA) in 2016 made it compulsory for all Philippine organizations to comply with the law. This represents solid, sound stewardship of personal information amidst global digitization,
and instills organizational accountability for internal treatment of personal data, and the degree to which companies can protect such data from external parties. Clearly, no company is spared from the threat of an information breach – and the need to prepare
for such threats is both pressing and real. The past two years saw a preponderance of seminars which aimed to educate Philippine organizations with the DP Law, and while substantial and beneficial, the main focus of these fora are the legal nuances of compliance.
The legal perspective is indeed critical; however, a robust multi-disciplinary stance to data privacy ensures a more holistic, sustainable, and well-orchestrated collaborative effort towards compliance. Organizations are enjoined to send a representative for
each of these functions to ensure that compliance is understood and supported by a Core Team rather than being managed exclusively by the organization’s Data Privacy Officer.

The First Multi-Functional Data Privacy Summit aims to take learning and compliance to the next level by bringing the other equally critical facets of Legal, IT, Audit, Risk Management, Comptrollership, and HR to the fore. Moreover, the conference takes
on a pragmatic, tool-kit based approach to data privacy compliance, by providing learners with a step-by-step guide on how to go through the five pillars of compliance set forth by the National Privacy Commission.
A well-represented, multi-functional core team will help ensure a robust stance to data privacy compliance.